The Cebu Mountain Bike Community by Eugene Faelnar Jr.

On the spotlight is Mr. Eugene Go Faelnar Jr., owner of Cebu Mountain Bike Adventure, known as “Gene” among his peers and colleagues in the community and has been biking since the age of 4. He is passionate about Mountain Bike with the “trail or enduro set up” or hard tail.

Generally, we see the need for a team, mostly on road cycling especially watching Rondas&Giros. Gene gives us a peek to the camaraderie of the mountain bike community and why the MTB population is growing more and more each year.

Can you talk about the MTB community here in Cebu? How big is it? Can you set a specific number? Are they mostly leisure or competitive? What is the ratio between leisure and competitive MTBs?

The MTB Community in Cebu is huge. I can’t pin an exact number of individuals or ratio, but there are a lot of MT biker types, which is more or less a direct representation of the individual’s personal character. There are a lot of leisure riders (usually those higher of age and do cycling as a way of recreation), and there are also competitive types who are in it for the joys of competing. Usually as one progresses into the hobby or sport, they would try at least one race, because what’s the point if not to test one’s self against others or to test personal limits.

How about in the Visayas and Mindanao? How is the MTB community in our side of the country? Is it getting bigger? How is the participation of the community?

Currently, the MTB is growing. In fact the production of more brands and the R&D put into new equipment, gear and etc. means that the number is steadily growing. There are a lot of races in the different disciplines, and the community is quite active in participating and organizing events. Trail Fever Diaries for instance has been organizing races for the Downhill discipline since 2015.

If I want to be more involved in the MTB community, How should I start? Is it ok to show up or is there a code to respect?

Well, you just have to be on your bike more and show up on rides, go with ride groups, or show up in competitions. You just need a bike, the desire to ride and challenge yourself. There isn’t a code of respect perse, but the usual characteristic of a mountain biker is free spirited and easygoing. There are also those go getter, type A serious types, but they usually are focused on competitions and usually transition to road biking, and triathlons.

What is in the MTB community that is not in the other cycling communities?

The people that make up the community are really awesome. Like I said, the usual mountain biker profile is easy going, free spirited, nature lover, and positive. Although you would pretty much see the same profiles in other outdoor groups, it is the ability to move fast in long distances through the use of muscle power that sets the mountain biker apart, from others.

MTB is an individual competitive sport, but there is a different sense of teamwork in spite of this. Can you describe the teamwork at play in the competitive MTB scene? What are 5 benefits we can get in a team?

Depending on the discipline, it is mainly an individual sport. Teamwork directly comes into play in cross country events. Like a flock of birds flying in a V pattern to conserve energy, the same principle is applied to cycling and is quite effective in long distance races. In other disciplines, it’s more of sharing ideas and best practices like line choice, equipment set-up, technique spotting, and more.